a personal-public notebook about human development(s) ... by michaela raab

Tuesday, 21 July 2009

Technical Solutions to Social Problems?

"If only I had teeth down there" was the title of a public discussion organised by Terre des Femmes, a Berlin-based group specialised in women's rights (Monday 20). Sonnet Ehlers, the South African inventor of Rape-aXe, presented the prototype of her "anti-rape condom" for women. Rape-aXe does not prevent rape - it only makes penetration extremely short and painful for the perpetrator: rigid barbs drill into his skin and stay there. The device cannot be removed from the perpetrator's body without medical assistance. For a graphic explanation, consult the official site. Ms. Ehlers says Rape-aXe buys time - while the perpetrator recovers from the shock of finding his parts trapped inside the "condom", his victim may get away.
The overwhelmingly female attendance was divided over the benefits and risks associated with Rape-aXe, which is expected to hit the world market in October 2009. It may be a powerful deterrent. But what if, as an undesired outcome, attacks on young girls, less likely to carry the device than adult women, increase? Ms. Ehlers says she works on a protective device for children as well. Isn't it child abuse, objects a participant, when you insert devices into a girls' body - even if they are meant to protect her from assault? And who can afford these devices, anyway, if they must be replaced every 24 hours?

Ms. Ehlers's answers to the many questions are stern, curt, sometimes polemic and often evasive, especially when it comes to psychological and social issues. As evidence for effectiveness, she mentions discussions held in prisons with "many rapists" and in unspecified townships.
Technical solutions to social problems? I'm unconvinced. But the device is stunning indeed.

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Apologies to all those who have tried to post comments since mid-2017! I have been too terribly busy to review and authorise the comments in good time. (This blog is a free-time venture after all.)

Meanwhile, the European Commission's General Data Protection Regulation has come into force and it has become complicated to display comments. To stay on the safe side, I have deleted all comments ever posted to this blog. I am very sorry about that, because I have enjoyed this form of conversation. And I do hope you will enjoy reading future posts all the same.

About me

I am a consultant with some 30 years of experience in development - in particular, monitoring & evaluation, facilitation, training and applied research with a range of organisations and in many places around the world. I live in Berlin and work in several languages.This blog is a free time venture - so please bear with typos and occasional long waits between the posts.

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